Zenko
by ToBetasered
Summary: Naruto has a secret little helper, how does he fare with aid from the world of spirits. A Naruto fanfic with a bit of Spirited Away...
1. Chapter 1

**The author makes no claims to the ownership of the story Naruto...Though I really wish I could, this is just a fanfiction. **

**Binding Seal**

**Bonds of Hatred, Bonds of Love**

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The winds howled and screamed in an unearthly manner. Wisps of red chakra flickered and twisted in the air as they cast an unnatural glow upon the beleaguered village. In the distance there was a brilliant white flash of light then, a muted cheer.

Dark shadows flitted through darkened forest, leapt upon the crowns of trees, standing upon them like thrones. They were men and woman, ninja all and staring off into the distance, they looked upon a sight rarely seen even in their fantastic world.

The sky was overcast. The potent chakra that yet lingered in the air condensed atmospheric water into a sooty black, stinging hot rain. The heated air drove monsoon force winds and twisted dark clouds upon themselves into a writhing, tormented mass.

The world was silent, the world was still…

A young scarred youth sobbed angrily demanding to see his parents. His voice was startlingly loud in the now silent world. A white haired youth wept quietly, these were his first tears in years. Clutched in his arms were the bloody remains of a brunette kunoichi.

"_I failed, Obito…"_

**Shinobi Rule number 25:** _"You must make the mission your top priority and you must possess a heart that never shows tears. No matter what the situation, a __**shinobi**__ must keep emotions on the inside."_

What bullshit…

All about, standing within the forest, and upon the massive walls of earth and wood and kinjutsu, men and woman stared disbelieving. They were amazed to have survived the ordeal.

There was the rumbling of thunder in the distance….

One by one, the inhabitants of the village cautiously began to make their way from the shelters as the news of the battle's conclusion spread. Men and women wept unabashedly, _"Thank Goodness."_ They said, _"Thank goodness for the Hokage."_

And off in the middle of the forest a man lay gasping upon the head of a kaijuu.

Beams of light broke through the now swiftly dissipating clouds. The pillars of moonlight shone down upon the earth.

A full moon…

The titan shifted, it was a toad six stories tall. **"Hmmm?!"** He grunted**. "Gaki…?!!"**

"_**He's in a bad way…"**_ The Boss toad, Gamabunta thought. _**"…Had better take him there."**_

With a prodigious leap, the giant soared into the air, the wake of his passage ripping nearby trees from their already tenuous grip on the soil. Thousands of eyes followed the passage of the creature, some were ordinary; others glowed silver, or red with spinning designs.

A man muttered unsurely, "I think something was wrong with the Hokage…"

_Bonds of Hatred…_

_Bonds of Love…_

Each the face of a coin… The existence of one beggars the possibility of the other.

After all, both are merely different names for the same thing.

_Passion… _

Without such a thing, what would drive one to the illogic of self-sacrifice?

What other binding could possibly hold such diverse individuals together to form the great tree?

What other than the deepest hatred…or love?

These questions filtered through the hazy mind of a dying man. His body disconnected even as doctors and nurses rushed out of a hospital to treat their leader. A man who now lay within the depression of a giant toad-print. A balding doctor with glasses and a long goatee yelled for his colleagues to _"Bring the damn equipment outside!"_

_Passion…_

As his vision darkens, he hopes for the best for his son. Even as he does so the memories of his kage bunshin come to him. A room full of cold-eyed advisors gathered about his predecessor, and by his will, the reinstated Third Hokage.

He had hoped for love, but hatred would do…

He murmurs _"Grow strong, Naruto. I'm…so…"_

The Yondaime passed on, his thoughts on his legacy.

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**In a Council Chamber lit by candles.**

They watched the final wisps of smoke dissipate

_Bonds of Hatred…_

"Kill it."

_Bonds of Love…_

"Don't be stupid, think rationally!"

_Bonds of Hatred…_

"I agree, this child can be our greatest weapon in the troubled times ahead. Give the demon fox to me, Sarutobi."

_Bonds of Love…_

"The will of the Fourth was clear! This child is Uzumaki Naruto! A proud new member of the Leaf!"

_Bonds of Hatred…_

"That is not what Danzo meant Sarutobi…"

"Yes it wa…"

"Hush, Danzo!"

"There were already reports that foreign observers were headed here. Trust that the Daimyo will inquire after our stability. We've lost more than a quarter of our forces to injury and death!"

"He will not be made into a mindless weapon I will not allow it!"

"Allow?! Who do…"

"_Complete _that sentence…I _dare_ you!"

"…"

"Not as a weapon Sarutobi, but as an intimation of power, a deterrent."

"Yes! A deterrent! They need not know who, they will know we have the Kyuubi and be wary."

_Bonds of Love…_

"He will be hidden among the populace."

"Sarutobi!"

"We will use the plan I suggested, the knowledge will be treated as an S-Class secret!"

"As you wish."

"I agree."

"You ask me to protect Konoha then you tie my hand behind my back…very well… _Hokage-sama_."

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**Converted Ninja Meeting Chamber**

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded as the protests died down. He fingered the red and white, tri-cornered hat bearing the symbol for fire. At his sides Homura and Koharu sat having informed those assembled of the Yondaime's death, the Third's reinstatement and given their explanation for why the Kyuubi vessel would be kept unharmed. They had also outlined the laws that would be instituted to maintain the secrecy of Naruto's existence.

Even in this stressful time it had been enough for the assembled jounin to know that the Third had ordered that Naruto be kept a secret. They were after all aware that the Leaf would need every advantage when other countries began probing Konoha for weaknesses in the wake of the disaster. They hadn't needed an explanation for that.

What had caused the uproar was the revelation that not only were they required to not reveal the secret of Naruto's existence but that there would be no special restrictions placed upon him beyond what was normal for any other orphan. Namely the fact that when the time came, if he so wished, Naruto would be able to join the ranks of ninja.

Koharu and Homura had spoken their piece about his existence being a deterrent against enemies in the future but many of the ninja in the room, with less than a day since the Kyuubi attack, felt apprehension at the thought of such power in the hands of a trained ninja.

Sarutobi was certain they would follow orders however. What really worried him was the response he would get when this information was disseminated to the lower ranks of chuunin, gennin and adult civilians.

As the room settled down the Third Hokage sighed.

"That's all for today, an official announcement of my reinstatement and the new law will be passed out later today. The funeral service for those who have fallen will be held tomorrow…" His weary gaze sharpened. "I don't need to tell you that this has been a tremendous blow to our village but those who have given up their lives did so that we could carry on. The Fourth, believed this when he went into battle against the Fox. There will be harsh times ahead of us but…"

He leaned back into his chair at the apex of the semi-circular conference table and looked into the eyes of the assembled ninja before him. Finally he said. "I believe in you, dismissed!"

Danzo was waiting for him outside of his, the Hokage's, office. A pair of nervous chuunin were carrying the last of the Yondaime's things out of the room. They awkwardly bowed and hurried on their way leaving Sarutobi, his two advisors and the Anbu commander alone in the anteroom.

Sarutobi acknowledged the man's presence with a grunt and nothing more. He made no comment as the others followed him into the room. The old Hokage walked past his desk and stood beside his chair looking out the windows and the village repairs that were underway. It wasn't that much as the Demon Fox hadn't even breached the walls but the storm had damaged some roofs and windows.

His eyes lingered on the fourth face on the monument. "What is it?" He asked.

"Sarutobi…" Homura began, only to be interrupted by Danzo.

"Don't be coy." Was what he said. "It should have occurred to you as well by now."

"Yes." Spoke Koharu. "You were always insistent on hearing the old stories from Tobimaru-sensei."

"The Kyuubi attacking Konoha for a second time, it cannot be coincidence. What are you going to do?" Danzo queried with a narrowed gaze.

"About." Koharu chimed in.

"The Uchiha." Homura growled.

Sarutobi said nothing; his eyes lingered on the fourth, in his own way pondering.

Bonds of hatred, bonds of love…

Alone in a crib, a sleeping baby lay, his older brother watched, red eyes entranced, drifted slowly closed.

Alone in a crib, a sleeping baby lay, a demon fox watched, red eyes enraged, reluctantly drifted closed.

Bonds of Hatred, Bonds of Love…

And the binding will of fate.

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**The Alley next to Matehara's Fine Selections **

What happened was inexcusable but understandable. It was unexpected in a hidden village that purported that all members were family, leaves on the great tree named Konohagakure; a family of soldiers bound by bonds of love.

When the Third's law was passed there was discontent but obedience. The ninja of Konoha followed orders and the civilians, family of ninja, followed the letter of the law as well. It wasn't too difficult as the ninja were busy trying to keep up with the mission load now that so many of their comrades were dead of injured. The civilians were busy trying to regain some normalcy in their lives or supplementing their incomes in the cases where a family had lost a shinobi father or mother.

The first four years of Naruto's life were peaceful if not especially happy.

This is not to say that he was mistreated. His elderly caretaker held very little personal affection for him but did her job diligently and showed no outward sign of hatred toward the boy. He was guarded by hidden Anbu under orders to watch and protect discreetly. He was very rarely brought into public as his caretaker was elderly, a problem as he grew older and more excitable.

Strangely the little boy seemed not to mind. But perhaps this was that as strange, seeing as the lonely child seemed to have acquired an invisible friend.

The report that detailed this fact lead to the first of many uproars related to Naruto.

After some rather frantic questioning of the bemused boy along with, as Naruto termed a, 'ticklish', but thorough examination of the seal it was concluded by a relieved Sandaime that; Naruto's assertions aside, his invisible friend _did not_ speak back to him.

A year later, due to worsening health problems, Naruto's caretaker retired much to his dismay. Five years may have seemed an awfully young age to allow a child to live on his own, no matter how self-sufficient, may even have been criminally negligent. The Anbu guard remained ever vigilant, gennin teams were assigned missions to clean and shop for Naruto and the Third used what little free time he could set aside during the day to visit the child and take him for walks so as to familiarize the boy with the village and see how well he dealt with living alone.

It was a world after all, where children as young as twelve or even younger were trained as ninja and expected to be able kill.

And so Naruto lived, most of the residents of Konoha disliked him because of the memories that he evoked and showed it, but otherwise left the child alone. The older ninja, especially those who hade lost someone to the Kyuubi (nearly everyone), looked upon him coldly but did their best to either avoid or studiously ignore him.

There were no beatings by drunken mobs, when people cursed him there was no mention of the demon fox. What belittling remarks that came his way seemed justified, if only a little harsh. Actually much of the trouble that Naruto encountered along the way was brought upon the boy by his own actions.

He had grown slightly needy for attention and acted out occasionally. Sarutobi worried over the fact that his invisible friend persisted. Still, times were peaceful for Naruto.

Until…

It was late in the evening when the report came in and the shadow cast by the village was long. The Hokage stepped into the alley, noting the blood stains that streaked along its sides. He paused for a second and looked behind him. The ground was slightly furrowed as if something broad had been dragged along it. The alley opposite was also a mess.

"Report."

The Anbu officer, one who had been conferring with a military police officer moments earlier addressed the Hokage promptly. "Hokage-sama, a disturbance was reported by the owner of the tea shop next to this clothing store. The description claimed that a scuffle had occurred between two ninja ending in the use of a C-Rank Fuuton ninjutsu." The man gestured to his side at the disinterested-looking military police officer. "Officers who were sent to investigate and subdue the offenders determined that the incident involved one Uzumaki Naruto and followed the protocol outlined for such disturbances by signaling the Anbu."

"What happened?" The Third asked.

"Matehara-san, the owner of the clothes store is still unconscious but there were numerous customers who witnessed the event." The masked man said. "From what we have gathered Uzumaki-san was engaged in an argument with the store owner earlier in the day regarding the cost of a pair of goggles. He claimed that Matehara-san had marked up the price several times the item's stated value and in response the shop owner had Uzumaki-san thrown out of the store."

The man continued after a brief pause. "It seems that later on someone released stink-bombs containing a pink dye in Matehara-san's rear storeroom and changing-rooms, contaminating his entire stock and affecting several customers. Uzumaki-san was caught walking out of this alley." The man huffed. "Matehara-san was most…distraught, he and a number of others decided take matters into their own hands and…discipline the boy. Sometime after this point was when the disturbance occurred."

Sarutobi watched as the man pointed to a spot at the end of the alleyway. "That was where Uzumaki-san was found, bruised and unconscious. We had him brought to the hospital for treatment." The man paused before continuing in a strange tone of voice. "It's also the point of origin for the blast."

Sarutobi sighed as he looked at the point where all the streaks seemed to originate. A number of Konoha civilians injured by an unknown jutsu with Naruto involved, he knew that he was going to get a headache over this.

"Naruto, what am I going to do with you."

It was the turning point in young Uzumaki Naruto's life…

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Konoha General Hospital.

The boy lay alone in a hospital room, a wet towel over his forehead. At the foot of his bed, invisible to all save one there was a white-furred fox. It sat in silent vigil as the boy slept. A single eye open as its nose lay tucked into its tail.

The creature wasn't aware of it but it had been born of a bond.

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**AN: I've been busy and and my other stories won't be out for a few weeks, though there are quite a few updates coming. I just thought that I'd put out the intro for another story that;s more in the short chapter style.**


	2. Chapter 2

****

**The author makes no claims to the ownership of the story Naruto or Spirited Away...Though I really wish I could, this is just a fanfiction. **

**Blood calls to Blood**

**Haku and Kohaku**

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What meaning has time to the timeless?

_He…_

Undulated lazily, slowly… slowly, slowly becoming aware.

_He…_

Stretched his arms and touched the heavens, or at least seemed to, the heart of his domain was an underground reservoir hidden within an old volcanic magma chamber long inactive. From there he meandered across the mist-covered island nation until he kissed the sea.

_He…_

Was awakening reluctantly, there was something summoning him from the depths of slumber. A strange double echo, a pulse had startled him a few days ago and now it beat relentlessly at the edges of consciousness, persistently, insistently calling.

_Blood calls to Blood…_

Idly he shifted from side to side, eyes still closed, for good reason too. The last time he had awakened and the two times before that, his domain had been choked full of rotting corpses. Enraged at the desecration, he had cleared them with a massive flood and retreated into hibernation. He had hoped that by the next time he awakened the Age of Man would be over. He did not stir from his rest at all, not even when the humans he had contracted with invoked his power and tried to summon his direct intervention. After all, they had broken their oath, to protect his river, first.

_Still, blood calls to blood._

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The land of Water Country was a mysterious, mist covered place. The capital of Water Country was on an island a quarter the size of Fire Country, it was surrounded by a ring of seven smaller islands. Some were home to single villages built around a trading port under the rule of a minor lord or lady. Others were too small to support anything other than a a plantation with a small coastal fishing village as a disguise for a hidden ninja outpost.

The life of a Water Country resident was a simple one if hard. For many years prior to the formation of Kirigakure, the Ninja Clan Wars had raged. Even isolated as they were from the mainland; the precursor of Water Country was not spared strife. Back then the islands were divided into private fiefdoms each with their own warlord and private mercenary clans that fought for conquest, glory and power.

_Humans are so foolish._

It would have continued on indefinitely if the formation of Konoha hadn't spurred the other countries to take notice. A handful of battles was all that was needed to show the viability of the new military model. A number of disparate clans grouped together to form an organized and well-balanced mercenary company. With the support of a rich nation and the backing of regular samurai, these ninja became a powerful military force that made the fractious warring clans look like rabble.

In only a handful of years Fire Country had ballooned to more than ten times its original size and power absorbing its neighbors and forcing other nations to hurriedly form their own ninja military system if for nothing more than for protection. Just like that, in the space of a few years, the age of the Ninja Clan Wars ended and the time of the Hidden Ninja Villages began. Water Country, isolated though they were, had also been forced to see the truth. In part due to outside pressure and in part due to the conquest of the largest of the islands in that chain by the forces of the future Daimyo. Thus out of necessity Kirigakure, the village hidden in the mist had formed.

_Humans were still foolish._

The Daimyo of Water Country, if he could be called such, was merely the strongest of a group of warlords. Some of the stronger lords of the other islands paid only lip-service to the title and were home to small but powerful ninja clans. Others from less important islands bought the Daimyo off with an annual tribute and went about their own business without interference.

_Disloyal servants make for an unstable country._

Assassination was the primary cause of death for a Water Country noble, more so than any other. Second place was a tie between choking in ones sleep and accidentally falling down some stairs. Those nobles who lived to old age usually attested their survival to luck, a heallthy dose of paranoia, a good body double and a closely watched heir or heiress.

_Not even the Daimyo were exempt from this._

It would seem counter-intuitive to say that the Mizukage actually encouraged such bloodthirsty practices to continue, yet not only did he do so, more often than not Kiri ninja were the preferred assassins. The primary source of income for a Kiri ninja however, was in guarding the boats that carried trade goods to and from Water Country. For an island nation trading for supplies was a necessary evil and the one who controlled trade controlled Water Country.

The Mizukage had been contracted by the Daimyo to provide protection to these trade ships after the samurai guards assigned to protect the monthly shipments, had been regularly and brutally slaughtered by pirates and the valuable goods stolen. This contract had been cemented into permanence after the 'pirates' had been hunted down, exterminated and the goods returned to the ports minus what had been destroyed.

_An easy task since the Mizukage had been behind the majority of the pirate attacks in the first place, framing some minor mercenary clan with the deed to deflect blame. _

Of course this was not a tactic that could be used often, nor did it guarantee Mist control of trade. The next step was to form independent, secret deals with the various warlords in control of trade routes and the storage of goods within Water Country itself.

These Warlords were then 'mysteriously' killed by assassins. Their successors were usually either ignorant of the true details of the secret deals that had been made or too enraged by the actions of the supposed perpetrators of the assassinations, handily aggressive rivals, to care. More often than not, they allowed generous concessions in exchange for protection or revenge.

The Water Country Daimyo may have been in a position to put a stop to things if he and the next three consecutive Daimyo hadn't all suffered a string of fatal accidents, death by falling out of a futon, by the lethal impact of a falling coconut, bleeding to death from an insect bite and from overexertion and excessive dehydration during a carnal encounter with a young male courtesan.

All unfortunate, if a tad embarrassing deaths that in no way shape or form could be attributed neither to the leader of Hidden Mist nor to the mysterious new commander of the world famous, Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

The wife of the most recently deceased Daimyo and the mother of the seven year old inheritor, having lost an older child to heatstroke due to falling asleep in the bath, could clearly see the writing on the wall. Surrounded by several predatory and ruthless Warlords, she had signed over a good deal of control in matters of trade and security to the Shodaime Mizukage in exchange for her son's continued survival.

Under the oversight of the Nidaime Mizukage these concessions had allowed the Hidden Mist to become the dominant political force during the outbreak of minor skirmishes and brief rebellions in which the independent ninja clans, many of which were bloodline clans, played a major role.

The hatred, disgust and fear generated by these ninja clans in the minds of the public was taken advantage of by the secretive Sandaime Mizukage who launched, with the popular support of the weary and war-torn populace, a campaign to end the wars, citing the kekkai genkai-wielding clans as abominations who prolonged war and would not allow true peace while any of their progeny still lived.

_By then bloody Mist had well and truly earned its name._

The propaganda campaign was so successful that even the merest whisper of abnormality was reported. The kekkai genkai clans either fought back or hid. Those that chose to embrace chaos and battle were slaughtered to the last man, woman and child. Their dead bodies were stacked into huge funeral pyres, burned, buried and forgotten. Those who chose to hide found little aid or succor. Places of haven were few and the threat of discovery always imminent. To have an advanced bloodline in some places, was reason enough for a lynching.

"Papa? Why is Mama sleeping? Who are thes- These people?"

_**-Smack-**_

"Ugh!"

"I'm sorry…for my parents and my sister…and all who have suffered; will suffer if you continue to live, please die, abomination…"

A teary-eyed face, filled with hatred, shame and disgust, dark gazes full of malice from the crowd behind him.

_Abomination…._

A descending hatched, already coated in blood.

_**ABOMINATION….**_

"_Please, die."_

A flash of light and then…blood, so much red blood, dripping from crystal spires, some spikes held twisted forms blue and frozen, unmentionable things littered the floor. If he stayed there a moment longer he would lose his mind. Now he understood his mother's bereaved and hopeless denial.

"Look, Mommy look!" The child had been playing in the river as his mother washed the day's laundry. They were the wife and son of a simple farmer. The youth in his innocent enthusiasm had attempted to grasp at the water flowing in the stream, to lift it out in cupped hands without spilling any. Not understanding the significance he had eagerly shown the floating amorphous globule of water to his mother.

_**-Slap-**_

Water splashed unto the ground, the child's concentration broken by shock and pain.

"No, not this child! Kami-sama, why this child!" The woman gripped the boy's thin shoulders, fingers digging them in painfully as she screamed in despair.

"Why, why, like your grandfather, why!" She sobbed and as the child began to cry, hugged him.

"No, don't cry, baby, shhhh!" She rocked him sobbing still. "I'm sorry it's not your fault. It's Mama's fault." She went on to tell him not to show that trick to others, not to tell of what he could do. She was sure that he would obey her at least for a time, when he was a little older she would explain. Tragically, neither noticed the horrified figure standing upon the crest of the hill behind their home. A farmer's tools scattered where they had fallen on the snow covered earth.

"_Die, Abomination." _

He opened his eyes.

Haku lay still, covered with snow.

Yet he did not feel the cold.

Ten fingers flexed slowly, free of frostbite, his bloodline sustained him, even after having fallen asleep in a snowdrift for two hours.

"_What…what happened?"_

He remembered his mother's limp form, lifeless.

Unable to rest after that fleeting image he rose to his feet and continued on, walking blindly, he heading away from the house, impaled by spikes of ice. He sought to put as much distance between himself and that…_(abomination)_…and that -memory as possible.

It was not surprising then that the six-year old who had not ever had cause to venture far from home was lost within minutes, stumbling slowly in the general direction of one of Water Country's larger villages. He did not know this but should he have survived the long and solitary march; then that was where he would have ended up. Ended up as another one of the countless, worthless orphans begging for sustenance as they struggled to survive.

But then, Haku fell in the river…

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Having stretched across the length and breath of his domain Kohaku was oddly pleased that there were no dead bodies polluting his river. Other than the ones that should have been there anyway, the small creatures that lived out their lives within his domain.

He felt it now more urgently, a summons to the World of Man.

But still he procrastinated, idly playing about in the current of a stream, in the roar of a waterfall, in the unfathomable depths and deceptively fast flowing waters with something akin to glee.

_Then a body fell in._

With a frustrated growl Kohaku was instantly there, moving through his domain with the merest thought. At the time his reasons for saving the child hadn't been exactly altruistic. His thoughts on the matter were simply. _"Not another dead human, polluting my river!"_

Small pudgy hands grasped instinctively at the scaly form as it swam past the flailing form. Long coils of a sinuous body undulated and buoyed the child to the surface, then deposited the gasping human on the river bank.

A lupine head lowered and sniffed disdainfully at the wet bedraggled form. Emerald green eyes narrowed at the sight of steam lifting off of the child's shivering form, watched as the Hyouton bloodline struggled to keep its final inheritor alive, calling all the while to the river spirit. .

_Blood calls to blood._

Kohaku snarls at the sight but relents. This child is one of **_Her_** children after all. He watched as the boy awakened, and before he regained full consciousness, altered his form as necessary.

Brown eyes meet green.

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Bubbles burst before his eyes, the river was dark and he'd lost his sense of up and down. The cold should have killed him but yet he still struggled, he wasn't drowning but he couldn't breathe. Then there was a flicker of something silver, like a flat slate river rock. His dimming sight saw something moving past him and he reached out in desperation. In his mind was a single desperate thought.

"_Air!"_

_"..."_

His next thoughts were of the blinding white sky and of the pair of green eyes that looked at him intensely. Remembering the villagers he started and weakly tried to back away.

"Don't be afraid, I just want to help you." The 15 year old boy before him said, Haku stopped edging away and waited hesitantly, watching warily.

"You shouldn't be out here alone, where are your friends, where is your family? If you know where you live I can help you find your home." The boy asked and offered with eyes shining in concern. The water hadn't been enough to wash the blood-stains out of Haku's clothes.

The six year old spoke numbly. "Dead." He answered.. "Gone." He added. "Mama, Gone!" He cried.

"_Please die, Abomination."_

The boy before him seemed disturbed at the news and stared at the river, deep in thought.

_Blood calls to blood._

"I know a place where you can go…" The boy said hesitantly. "It's come under new management over the years but I don't have many pleasant memories of it." He looked at Haku reassuringly. "But if you were to go there you would be safe. You'll have to work hard though." The older boy said. "Would you like me to bring you there?"

The six year old nodded.

"Fine then, take my hand, close your eyes, and hold your breath until I tell you it's safe to breathe. Can you do that?" Kohaku asked seriously.

The youngster smiled apprehensively "Yes!" he said, slightly moved by the older boy's grave tone.

Gently Kohaku took the boy's hand and murmured. "Spirits of Wind, Spirits of Water, Heed this call made in my true name, Kohaku, Please bless this child and grant him protection, open a path to Sanctuary…."

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An old witch scowled from behind her desk. One of the objects of her ire flinched and tried to hide behind the other, unflappable, stoic visitor.

"Say that again!" Yubaba snarled.

"Just as I told you..." The older boy murmured.

The slightly whimpering voice cried out stubbornly despite her attempt at intimidation.

"Please, I need a Job!"

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**AN: This story was an idea that wouldn't go away. Will of the Future: Old Men 50percent done. There'll also be a side story addedafter Old Men. **


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